Teacher preparation:

Overarching learning goal: The aim of this activity is to engage student curiosity in biodiversity and to encourage students in rich, high order thinking around this topic. By participating in this activity students will develop their own ideas, build their knowledge, attitudes and values through in-depth learning experiences around biodiversity.

Teacher content information:

Cool Australia Presents Biodiversity from Cool Australia on Vimeo.

Student and classroom organisation:

Step 1.

Begin by clarifying student knowledge on biodiversity. Engage students in a class discussion around the following questions:

What is biodiversity?
Where is biodiversity?
How important is biodiversity?
What is happening to biodiversity?

Use the your curiosity box (see below) to stimulate discussion and ideas, and record student answers (consider using Padlet).

Suggested outline for class discussion:

1. Select one object or image from the curiosity box. Begin your discussion by asking students for observations on an object or image from the curiosity box:

What is the first thing you that comes to mind when looking at this object or image?
What else do you notice or what else comes to mind?
What more can you tell us about your observations?

2. Ask other students to clarify student observations and raise questions while continuing to refer to the object or image.

3. Next ask students what puzzles them about the image or object:

Has something that someone else has said made you think differently about the object?
Think about what other people have said - why do you agree or disagree about what other students have said?

4. What connections can you make between objects and images?

How are they connected or related?
What things can’t you see but you know or feel are connecting these objects or images?

How to create a curiosity box:

Create a curiosity box with images or actual objects that relate to biodiversity (see table below). You can use any of the images in the Cool Australia Toolbox, and use actual items instead where possible. Encourage students to explore their ideas around these objects, and to handle and order them. Record student ideas (consider using Padlet).

You may also choose to add items that are relevant to your students and your area. For example, objects that have been part of recent classroom activities or discussion, or objects that suggest issues that are close to home, such as local habitats or animals.

You can use a box to store all your items in; alternatively you could create an online curiosity box only using images.

Objects or images relating to biodiversity and possible connections

Object or image	Possible connection
Feather	Birds, animals, other skin coverings (fur, scales, hair, shell etc), why need animals, how we help animals, how we harm animals
Beach or sand	Oceans, aquatic life, ocean health, why we need the ocean, how we harm the ocean, how we help the ocean
Plant or leaves	Plants for animals (shelter, consumption, medicine, water), plants for humans (shelter, consumption, medicine, manufacturing), oxygen, CO₂ and climate change, shade, soil nutrition
Nuts or seeds	For human or animal consumption, planting and revegetation, life cycle of a plant
Rocks	For animal shelter, some plants grow on rocks, pushed out of the ground by earth movements
Sun	Light, warmth, photosynthesis, sun safety
Water	Water for humans, water for animals, water for our environment, freshwater versus polluted water, where does freshwater come from?
Litter	Impact on our environment, where it comes from, where it should go, resources required to make litter
Fire or matches	Impacts on biodiversity, part of biodiversity, some plant need fire to reproduce, can be used to manage a landscape (indigenous land management practices)
People	A part of biodiversity? Impacts on biodiversity, how we use biodiversity, how we help biodiversity

Reflection questions

Once you have completed discussion, ask students to reflect on their learning using the following questions. You can consider these questions as a class or students can work independently (questions also available on the student worksheet):

What questions does this activity leave students? (Consider using the Googleable and Non-Googleable questions activity here.)
How can students answer these questions? Where can they find information to answer these questions?
What are the answers to these questions?
What more do students want to learn about this topic?

Consider taking ideas for further learning into future activities. As a class decide on which questions to investigate. You could use the following investigation techniques to explore the answers to your questions:

Design an experiment
Survey members of the school community
Interview an expert
Host a guest speaker

As a class, decide on a medium for presenting your information, such as:

Video – e.g. documentary, short film, news report, animation
Podcast
Performance – e.g. song, play
Visual art – e.g. mural, graffiti wall, sculpture, 3D model
E-book
Online – e.g. blog, memes or gifs

Curiosity box

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